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Jim Zub

Jim Zubkavich, known professionally as Jim Zub, is a Canadian comic book writer, artist, and art instructor best known for creating comics Skullkickers (2010), Wayward (2014), and Glitterbomb (2016) for Image Comics, writing on the series Thunderbolts (2016), Uncanny Avengers (2017), and spearheading the reboot of Conan the Barbarian (2023) for Titan Comics. As well as writing and creating comics, Zub is the former program co-ordinator and art professor at Toronto's Seneca College.

Early life

Jim Zub is Canadian.[1] He grew up watching Spider-Man cartoons as a kid, and soon after fell in love with comics. He has stated that Stan Lee was a big influence on him, specifically by giving his superheroes flaws.[2]

Career

Jim Zub created his first comic, Makeshift Miracle, in 2001, followed by a nine-year stint at UDON Entertainment as a colorist, illustrator, project manager, writer and editor[3] where he wrote various Street Fighter comic books.[4]

In 2010, Zub launched Skullkickers at Image Comics.[5] A creator-owned sword & sorcery action-comedy, Skullkickers ran for thirty-three issues completing six volumes. The series came to an end in 2015.[6]

In 2013, Zub wrote Samurai Jack comics for IDW and Cartoon Network.[7] Initially intended as one five-issue arc, the comic ran twenty issues, ending in 2015.[8]

In 2014, Zub launched Wayward at Image Comics with art by co-creator Steven Cummings.[5] His first creator-owned book since Skullkickers, Wayward is described as Buffy The Vampire Slayer set in Japan." A teen coming-of-age story injected with Japanese myth and the supernatural.[5] The series spanned 30 issues and six trade paperback volumes before coming to an end on October 31, 2018.[9]

Zub and IDW partnered up for Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate #1-5 in 2014,[10] followed up by Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows of the Vampire #1-5 in 2016, Dungeons & Dragons: Frost Giant’s Fury #1-5 in 2017,[11] and Dungeons & Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate #1-5 in 2018.[12]

In 2016, Zub and French-Canadian artist Djibril Morissette-Phan launched Glitterbomb at Image Comics, a four-part mini-series about a struggling actress trying to regain fame in a sexist, abusive industry.[13] A second four-part mini-series, Glitterbomb: The Fame Game, launched in 2017.[14]

Zub started writing for Marvel in 2016 with Thunderbolts,[15] followed by Uncanny Avengers in 2017.[16] He created a new hero, villains, and new backstories in the 16-part Avengers: No Surrender in 2018,[17] as well as taking over Champions with #19, and creating a new Canadian Hero, Snowguard.[18][1][19] Also in 2018, Zub wrote the four-part Wolverine miniseries, Mystery in Madripoor.[20]

In August of 2018, Zub teamed up with writer Patrick Rothfuss and artist Troy Little to write a Dungeons & Dragons/Rick & Morty crossover mini-series, titled Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4.[21][22] Zub co-wrote, with Sarah Stern and with art by Little, Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape; the follow-up series was published from September to December 2019.[23] The Rick and Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons Deluxe Edition, by Rothfuss, Zub, and Little, was nominated for the 2022 "Best Graphic Album—Reprint" Eisner Award.[24]

In late 2018, it was announced that Zub, along with writers Mark Waid and Al Ewing, would reunite for Avengers: No Road Home, being called a "spiritual successor" to their previous collaboration, Avengers: No Surrender." Art will be done by Paco Medina and Sean Izaakse. The series began in February 2019.[25]

From December 2022 to March 2023, Zub returned to Oni Press to write the Cthulhu Mythos crossover mini-series Rick and Morty vs. Cthulhu #1-4.[26]

Since August 2023, Zub has been the flagship comic writer for Conan the Barbarian, owned by Heroic Signatures and published in English by Titan Comics.

Personal life

Zub and his wife, Stacy King,[27] live in Toronto. In addition to writing comics, from 2004 to 2024 Zub was a professor at Toronto's Seneca College teaching classes in Layout and Design, Character Animation, and Animation History.[28]

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

BOOM! Studios

  • Adventure Time Comics #4
  • Munchkin #1-4

DC Comics

  • Batman: Urban Legends #20
  • Legends of the Dark Knight 100 Page Super Spectacular #1
  • Let Them Live!: Unpublished Tales from the DC Vault #1
  • Suicide Squad: Amanda Waller #1
  • SFX-Pop! (anthology)

Dark Horse Comics

  • Conan / Red Sonja #1-4

Dynamite Comics

  • Li'l Sonja #1
  • Pathfinder #1-12
  • Pathfinder: City of Secrets #1-6
  • Red Sonja and Cub #1
  • Unbreakable Red Sonja #1-5

IDW

  • Samurai Jack #1-20 collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 120 pages, 2014, ISBN 978-1613778944)
  • Volume 2 (collects #5-10, TPB, 120 pages, 2014, ISBN 978-1631401312)
  • Volume 3 (collects #11-15, TPB, 120 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-1631402456)
  • Volume 4 (collects #16-20, TPB, 120 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-1631403804)
  • Dungeons & Dragons limited series:
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate #1-5 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 124 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-1631402500)
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Shadows of the Vampire #1-5 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 120 pages, 2016, ISBN 978-1631407666)
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Frost Giant's Fury #1-5 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 128 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-1631409288)
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Evil At Baldur's Gate #1-5 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 120 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1684053353)
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Mindbreaker #1-5 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 2022, ISBN 978-1-68405-888-4)
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Fortune Finder #1-5
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Infernal Tides #1-5
  • Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 (co-written with Jody Houser) collected as
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 96 pages, 2021, ISBN 978-1506721071)
  • Other collected editions:
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Days of Endless Adventure (March 2020, ISBN 978-1-68405-275-2) which collects Legends of Baldur's Gate, Shadows of the Vampire and Frost Giant's Fury
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Best of Minsc & Boo (April 2022) which collects Legends of Baldur's Gate #1, Shadows of the Vampire #2, Evil at Baldur's Gate #1, and Evil at Baldur's Gate #5[35]

Image Comics

  • Skullkickers #1-34 collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 144 pages, 2011, ISBN 1607063662)
  • Volume 2 (collects #6-11, TPB, 144 pages, 2011, ISBN 1607064421)
  • Volume 3 (collects #12-17, TPB, 144 pages, 2012, ISBN 1607066122)
  • Volume 4 (collects #18-23, TPB, 160 pages, 2013, ISBN 1607067668)
  • Volume 5 (collects #24-29, TPB, 144 pages, 2014, ISBN 1632150336)
  • Volume 6 (collects #30-33 & #100, TPB, 144 pages, 2015, ISBN 1632153432)
  • Skullkickers Super Special (2022)
  • Wayward #1-30 collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-5, TPB, 144 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-1632151735)
  • Volume 2 (collects #6-10, TPB, 136 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-1632154033)
  • Volume 3 (collects #11-15, TPB, 128 pages, 2016, ISBN 978-1632157010)
  • Volume 4 (collects #16-20, TPB, 136 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-1534300538)
  • Volume 5 (collects #21-25, TPB, 136 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1534303508)
  • Volume 6 (collects #26-30, TPB, 152 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1534308749)
  • Glitterbomb #1-4 collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 136 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-1534300514)
  • Glitterbomb: The Fame Game #1-4 collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 120 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1534304901)

Marvel Comics

  • Thunderbolts (2016-2017) #1-12 collected as:
  • Volume 1 (collects #1-6, TPB, 144 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-0785196686)
  • Volume 2 (collects #7-12, TPB, 144 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-0785196693)
  • Uncanny Avengers #26-30 collected as:
  • Volume 5 (collects #26-30, TPB, 112 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1302906450)
  • Avengers:
  • Avengers #675-690 collected as:
  • Avengers: No Surrender (collects #675-690, TPB, 352 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1302911454)
  • The following year, Marvel released a "spiritual sequel" by the same writing team in the form of a weekly 10-issue limited series that introduced Conan the Barbarian into the Marvel Universe:
  • Avengers: No Road Home #1–10 (with Mark Waid, Paco Medina, Sean Izaakse and Carlo Barberi (#8), 2019) collected as Avengers: No Road Home (tpb, 256 pages, 2019, ISBN 1-302-91485-5)
  • Marvel's Avengers: Road to A-Day (112 pages, Marvel Comics, 2020, 978-0-7851-9465-1) collects:
  • Marvel's Avengers: Hulk (one-shot, 2020)
  • Marvel's Avengers: Iron Man (one-shot, 2020)
  • Marvel's Avengers: Thor (one-shot, 2020)
  • Avengers #1.MU
  • Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #14-16, 27-32
  • Avengers: Child Life #1
  • Avengers: Tech-On #1-6
  • Alpha Flight: True North #1
  • Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1-8
  • Champions Vol. 2 (2016-2019) #19-27, Vol. 3 (2019) #1-10 collected as:
  • Champions Volume 4: Northern Lights (collects #19-21 and Infinity Countdown: Champions #1-2, TPB, 112 pages, 2018, ISBN 978-1302909826)
  • Champions Volume 5: Weird War One (collects #22-27, TPB, 176 pages, 2019, ISBN 978-1302915056)
  • Champions by Jim Zub Volume 1: Beat the Devil (collects #1-5, TPB, 136 Pages, 2019, ISBN 1302916718)
  • Champions by Jim Zub Volume 2: Give and Take (collects #7-10, TPB, 112 Pages, 2019, ISBN 1302916726)
  • Conan the Barbarian (Vol. 3) #13-25
  • Conan: Serpent War #1-4
  • Devil's Reign: Omega #1
  • Empyre: Avengers #1-3
  • Figment #1-5
  • Figment 2 #1-5
  • Heroes Reborn: Young Squadron #1
  • Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #1-4
  • Infinity Countdown: Champions #1-2
  • Infinity Warps #1-2
  • Investing in Each Other! #1
  • Life of Wolverine #1
  • Marvel Comics #1000 (Blade Week, illustrated by Nick Bradshaw, anthology, 2019) collected in Marvel Comics 1000 (hc, 144 pages, 2020, ISBN 1-302-92137-1)
  • Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #3
  • Ms. Marvel (Vol. 4) #38
  • Murderworld (112 pages, Marvel Comics, 2023, 9781302947224) collects:
  • Murderworld: Avengers
  • Murderworld: Spider-Man
  • Murderworld: Wolverine
  • Murderworld: Moon Knight
  • Murderworld: Game Over
  • Predator: Black, White & Blood #3
  • Savage Sword of Conan (Vol. 2) #7-9
  • Secret Empire: United #1
  • Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual

Oni Press

Rick and Morty limited series: Other collected editions:

  • Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 (co-written with Patrick Rothfuss) collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 120 pages, 2019, ISBN 978-1684054169)
  • Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape #1-4 (co-written with Sarah Stern) collected in Volume 2 (collects #1-4, TPB, 2020, ISBN 978-1620106907)
  • Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure #1 (2022)
  • Rick and Morty vs. Cthulhu #1-4 collected in Volume 1 (collects #1-4, TPB, 112 pages, 2023, ISBN 9781637152218)
  • Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Deluxe Edition (September 2021, ISBN 978-1-62010-875-8) which collects Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 & Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape #1-4, and Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure
  • Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Adventures (October 2022, ISBN 9781684056491) which collects Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 & Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape #1-4, and Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: The Meeseeks Adventure

Titan Comics

  • Conan the Barbarian (2023) #0-present
  • Conan: Battle of the Black Stone #0-4
  • Conan: Scourge of the Serpent #0-4

UDON Entertainment

  • Exalted #0-5
  • Makeshift Miracle Vol. 1: The Girl From Nowhere
  • Makeshift Miracle Vol. 2: The Boy Who Stole Everything
  • Street Fighter Unlimited #1, Annual #1
  • Street Fighter II Turbo #8
  • Street Fighter Masters: Elena #1
  • Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki #1-4
  • Street Fighter Legends: Cammy #1-4
  • Super Street Fighter #3, 5-6

Valiant Comics

  • Shadowman #8, 11

External links

References

  1. INTERVIEW: Jim Zub On Champions' Changes, Infinity Countdown Role & More CBR, 2018-06-12, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  2. Jim Zub on Stan Lee's legacy in comics and storytelling CBC, November 13, 2018, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  3. Alex Widen. Champions #19 review: A new era with Ironheart and Wasp Bam Smack Pow, 2018-04-17, retrieved 2019-01-21^
  4. Nicolo Josef V. Parungo. UDON Entertainment Announces 'Street Fighter Unlimited' Comic Series International Business Times, 2015-07-14, retrieved 2019-01-21^
  5. Chris Sims. Jim Zub On Wayward And The Pressures Of Being A Magical Teen ComicsAlliance, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  6. Skullkickers imagecomics.com, retrieved 2019-01-21^
  7. Caleb Goellner. 'Samurai Jack' #1 Comic Book Preview ComicsAlliance, retrieved 2019-01-23^
  8. Matt O'Keefe. MATT CHATS: Samurai Jack Exit Interview with Jim Zub The Beat, 2015-06-09, retrieved 2019-01-23^
  9. Interview: Jim Zub on the Evolution of 'Wayward' and What He's Learned Along the Way Comics, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  10. John Struan. New Baldur's Gate Comic Series Featuring Minsc And His Hamster Kotaku, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  11. FROST GIANTS Take On DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Newsarama, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  12. Jim Zub Pens More D&D Comic Book Adventures With Evil At Baldur's Gate Geek and Sundry, 2018-01-18, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  13. Kieran Shiach. 'Glitterbomb' And The Dark Side Of Hollywood [Interview] ComicsAlliance, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  14. Will Nevin. TBT #7: 'Glitterbomb' returns for more blood, while 'Wolfenstein' is here for your fascists OregonLive.com, 7 September 2017, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  15. Jesse Schedeen. Marvel Teases a New Thunderbolts Team for 2016 IGN, 2016-01-19, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  16. INTERVIEW: Jim Zub On How Beast & Wonder Man Fit Into Uncanny Avengers CBR, 2017-10-12, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  17. Avengers: No Surrender Finale Hides a Defenders Easter Egg CBR, 2018-04-12, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  18. van Koeverden. Meet Snowguard: Marvel Comics' new Inuk teen superhero CBC, April 25, 2018, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  19. CHAMPIONS #24 Tackles School Gun Violence: 'I Don't Want to Tell People They Must Feel This Certain Way' Newsarama, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  20. INTERVIEW: Zub, Silas & Cebulski On Hunt for Wolverine's Madripoor Mystery CBR, 2018-03-13, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  21. Rick & Morty are Taking On Dungeons & Dragons ScreenRant, 2018-07-30, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  22. Beckett Mufson, Lauren Messman. Rick and Morty Are Going on a 'Dungeons & Dragons' Adventure Vice, 2018-04-09, retrieved 2019-06-14^
  23. Rick and Morty D&D Chapter 2 Comic Unveiled at D&D Live 2019 Bleeding Cool, retrieved June 20, 2019^
  24. Heidi MacDonald. 2022 Eisner Awards Nominations Announced, led by DC and Image The Beat, 2022-05-18, retrieved 2022-05-18^
  25. AVENGERS' VOYAGER Returns With a New Team for NO ROAD HOME Newsarama, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  26. Jeff Spry. Rick and Morty plunge into pit of Lovecraftian horror in new comic miniseries Space.com, December 24, 2022, retrieved December 24, 2022^
  27. TCAF 2017: Jim Zub - How He Measures Success And Image Comics At 25 GNN, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  28. Will Nevin. Interview OregonLive.com, March 2018, retrieved 2019-01-20^
  29. Great Graphic Novels 2012 Young Adult Library Services Association, 2012-01-24, retrieved 2022-05-06^
  30. July retrieved 2019-01-26^
  31. Joey Esposito. The 2013 Harvey Award Nominees IGN, 2013-07-15, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  32. Jesse Schedeen. The 2014 Harvey Award Nominations Are Revealed IGN, 2014-07-16, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  33. 2016 Great Graphic Novels for Teens Young Adult Library Services Association, 2016-01-13, retrieved 2022-05-06^
  34. Kevin A. Boyd. The 2018 Joe Shuster Award Winners The Joe Shuster Awards, 2018-09-05, retrieved 2019-01-26^
  35. Arriving in April – Best of Minsc & Boo retrieved 2022-02-05^